"Go West, Young Man"

ENGINEER DEAN PURDY began his life in Lima, Ohio, but soon found himself on the westward trail that Horace Greeley so long ago advised – and it has served him well. After high school in Lima, Purdy enrolled in the Indiana Institute of Technology, in Fort Wayne. At IIT, he had little difficulty en route to earning a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1955. His timing could not have been better, as prime time for space-minded engineers was just around the corner.

As with so many engineers of the day, Purdy’s skills were about to come into ever-greater demand, strongest coming from McDonnell-Douglas Aerospace, who lured him further west, to St. Louis, in September of ’55. At the time, few knew where the job would take him, but “over the next thirty-nine-plus years, I worked on one Mach 2 jet fighter program, three missile programs and eight space programs, including five manned space programs,” recalled Purdy in February.

“I joined the Mercury team in early 1959, working in the electrical power and sequential systems design group, and stayed with the Mercury program until completion,” said Purdy. After a quick switch to Project: Gemini, Purdy was a key member of the electrical design team that monitored the electrical wiring system and fuel-cell development. Soon, he would know every detail of Gus’ “Molly Brown” and those that followed, for he was assigned to the Gemini Operations Team responsible for the electrical test complex design and the spacecraft’s electrical systems testing.

After Gemini, Purdy joined the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program to lead the electrical design of the heat-shield qualification vehicle.

In his spare time, Purdy gave his full attention and expertise to program management of the last two orbital attitude maneuvering system pods for the space-shuttle program, the modular power subsystem for NASA’s multi-mission modular spacecraft, electrophoresis operations in space and the transporter electrical storage system and external lighting modules for the international space station.

He retired in 1994 as director of military and space electronics. These days, Dean, wife Carol and hundreds of retired M-D co-workers cover all points of the compass as they travel to tell the stories of their involvement in leading America’s way to the moon. We members of the Purdue Alumni Club Welcome you to the 2012 Grissom Classic and Scholarship Banquet!